Method of mining coal.



H. 4/\\.KUlN. NII-:IIIoII'oF MINING coAL.. v j APPLICATION FILEDIIIAYIa, Ism. l A

Patented'Aug. 14, A1917..

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H. A. KUHN.. METHOD or M ;NIN'G coAL. APPLICATION FILED'MAY 18. 1914.

Patented Aug. '14, 1917.

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K .\\l WITNESSES.

Learner Hanny A. KUHN, or PITTSBURGH, Pennisi/'Lirama l Iiinrnoio orMiniere coiBT Specification of Letters Patent.

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)Application filed May 18, 1914. i Serial No. 839,326.

Y' Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania,haveJ invented a new and useful Improvements in Methods of Mining Coal;and I do hereby declare the following to be'a full, clear,- and exactdescription thereof. I

My invention relates to methodof mining coal. y

' In an application led' by me October 21, 1913, `Serial No. 796,497, Idescribed and claimed a method of mining coal which consists essentiallyin making an undercut in the bodyl ofthe coal, expanding the coal alongits lines of cleavage by shooting, whereby the coal settles down intothe undercut, undermining this mass of coal and convey ing it away.

The present invention is included within the broad claims of the aboveapplication and in addition to undermining the coal and conveying itaway, by the present method 1 apply a pressure at an angle to theundermining cut and simultaneously therewith so that the expanded'coalis subjected to a pressure which tends to'release the coal of its'adhesions along the lines of cleavage, and at the same time breaking upany band or' bands in the wall of coalvwhich would have a tendency tobridge the coal above said bands and prevent its dislodgment during theundermining or undercutting process.

In the accompanying drawings l have illustrated apparatus suitable forcarrying out my invention in which Figure 1 is a plan view of themachine; Fig. 2 is a side elevation;rFig. 3 is a like View partly insection showing the machine in its raised position; Fig. e is a detail,and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 Fig. 4C.

The -apparatus which I am aboutl to describe forms the subject of aseparate application tiled of even date herewith, SerialNo. 839,327.

The numeral 2 designates asuitable frame which may be composed of beams,anglebars, etc., united to form a rigid construction. This frame issupported normally in an inclined position, its rear end being carriedby the truck 3, which is provided with the axle l -on which the traction`wheels 5 are mounted. The wheels 5 and the mechanism for driving sameare housed in the box The other end to the crank arniA 'the clutch bon33 square end of the shaft 34 of the motor 35.

the frame 2. f Channels 41 are secured to the `by the friction sheave 8on the shaft 9. This shaft 9 is suspended from the bars 10 which arepivoted to the bracket 11. rlhe toggle member 12 is connected to thelshaft 9 and said toggle is pivoted at 13 to the link 14 whichismpivoted to the lug 15 on the casing of thetoggle is connected 16 onthe stud shaft 17 which is mounted on the bracket 18. To the outer endof the stud shaft 17 is connected the operating lever 19. It is apparentthat by operating the lever 19, the toggle mem-A er 12 is operated tomove the friction niember' into or out of contact with the frictionsha've 7 to transmit power to the driving as es.

Mounted on the shaft 9A is a sprocket wheel 20, the chain 21 passingaround the sprocket wheel 2O and around the sprocket wheel 22 of theshaft 23 mounted in the frame. li'iounted on the shaft 23 is the wormwheel 24 which ,is connected with the Worm 25 on the shaft 2G. Thisshaft 26 has the gearwheel which is engaged bythe pinion 28 on thecounter shaft 29. The gear wheel 30 on the shaft 29 is engaged by 'thedriving pinion 31 on-the shaft 32. The shaft32 has adapted to receivethe This motor, which in the present ease is an electric motor` is thedriving power for the soV undercutting mechanism 36, which may be of theordinary construction9 comprising a cutter chain which is driven bypower transmitted from the motor 35. Vih'en the undercutting mechanismis mounted on the frame 2, the inotorshaft 34 engages the clutch 33, andpower is transmitted fromthe motor to the mechanism for connecting thetraction' Wheels 5 to the other parts of the mechanism to be hereafterdescribed.

In front of the truck 3 are the steering wheels fl() which support theforward end of frame 2, said channels being inclined and the flanges ofsaid channels forming a track for the rollers Ll2 of the buggy 4:3. Thebuggy 43has the threaded nut i with which the threaded bar 45 engages.The upper end of' the threaded bar has the pinion 15a which meshes withthe pinion i6 on the shaft 171W This shaft Ai7 has the gear wheel 48whic l" meshes lwith the gear wheel/#27. By the rota, .110

,tion of the threaded bar 45 the buggy is advanced ,with its rollers l2moving in the channel bars 41, and in this way the front end of theframe 2 is lifted, as indicated in Fig. 3.

To operate the steering wheels 40, hand Wheels 49 are provided inountedon the shaft 50, said shaft carrying the worm 51 which engages thetoothed sector 52 on the swivel plate 53 of the truck a3. In thismanner, the steering wheels are properly directed to move the machine inthe direction desired.

At the rear end of the trarne 2 is the vsprocket wheel 55, and at theforward end of said frame are the sprocket wheels 5d The chain 57 passesaround said sprocket wheels and said chain carries the flights 58 atintervals. The outer ends of the lights 58 are formed with integralcutters or diggers 58a, or if desired, said cutters or diggers may bemade detachable and are adapted to cut or dig under the body `of coal Ydicated in Fig. 3.

which has been lowered by shooting, as fully hereinafter set forth. Thecutters on the liights are preferably arranged alternately extendingupwardly and downwardly so as to make a wider cut.

The front edges of the flights are preferably beveled to an edge asindicated at 59, to enable them to pass more readily through the 'massof coal.

Thel pan 60 is secured to the frame 2 below the flights and said lightsare adapted to travel along the said pan and convey the fcoal which isdislodged onto said pan by the action of the diggers or cutters. Thecoal is discharged at the rear into the pit wagon 61. In carrying out myimproved method with the above described apparatus, it would be assumedthat the undercut has been made in the solid wall of coal, and that thecoal has been expanded along its lines of cleavage by shooting, all asclearly set forth in fthe application Serial No. 796,497, above reerredto, I then proceed to undermine this expanded body of coal by advancingthe machine along the floor of the mine and digging under the coal asindicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings to form a crevice like opening.After the cutters and flights have advanced the proper distance underthe mass of coal, I then apply the pressure at an angle thereto, orupwardly as in the present case, and this is accomplished by putting inoperation the mechanism to raise the. forward end oi? the machine"simultaneously with the undermining or ,dislodging mechanism.Accordingly the feed screw a5 is rotated and the buggy 43 moved alongthe guides 4l in the frame and as said buggy moves forwardly the frameis gradually raised as in- 'Ihis raising of the frame creates the upwardpressure on the mass of coal and where there are any bands, as at 6'5,these bands will be broken and the coal which has been expanded alongits lines of cleavage will be dislodged in lumps so as to be depositedon the panv and carried oriy bythe flights to the pit wagon in the rear.

In this manner, II provide for the dislodging of the coal which has beenexpanded along its lines of cleavage and not disturbed by the shootingso as to break up the mass oi coal into slack or small lumps. The coalis released ot its adhesions partially along l its lines of cleavage andwhen the support is dislodged from underneath by the forces acting'inthe out the coal is removed in large lumps. Furthermore, where bands arepresent, which cause a bridge of the coal above said bands, by myimproved method said bands are disrupted and the coal above the seamremoved without difficulty. The

-mere undermining of the coal which has been expanded along its lines ofcleavage where bands are present may only act to dislodge Vthe coalbelow the bands, while by the above method the removal of all the coalabove the bands is assured. If desired, the bands of slate may beremoved by the cutters or front end of the machine could be cuz-vatedandthe coal above the slnaounding solid, released or cracked alongitslines oi. cleavage, and settled substantially as a mass or' cracked coalin place, subsequently forming a crevicelike opening 1n the mass or"loosened coal by the application of continuous horizontallytravelingforces. and simultaneously therewith applying' a forcetraveling continuously at an angle to the plane of the crevicelikeopening, thereby dislodging the coal with the traveling forces, andsimultaneously carrying away the dislodged coal. l

2. The method of mining coal7 consistling in making a cut in the solidof a seam o coal, expanding and disrupting the solid coal along lines ofits cleavage, whereby the coal acted upon is loosened from thesurrounding solid and cracked along lines of its cleavage, subsequentlyforming a crevicelike .opening in the loosened mass of coal by means oftraveling forces, and simultaneously there-` with applyinfr a torcetraveling continuouslyy at an cngle to the direction of the traveling foces within the crevicelike opening, dislod ing the coal, and conveyingit away.

3. The /method of mining coal, consisting/ in malriulg a out in thesolid ofa seam o, l/BD coul, expanding and disrupting the solid coalalong lines of its cleavage, whereby the coal acted upon is loosenedfrom the surrounding solid and cracked along lines of its cleavage,subsequently forming a crevicelike opening in the loosened mass 1f-coul,applying a force traveling continuously at an angle to the plane ofoperation of the first traveling forces, simultaneously *here-l withdislodging the coal, anni conveying it :w

. HARRY'A. if

Witnesses:

JOHN F. Wim, Ronan. D. To'rmN.

